Sunnydale the new Sunnyvale?

[Summerlilly]

So this may be more of a general question but does anyone know where they got the name "Sunnydale" from? Is it named after a real town or is it totally fictious? I live near an inland northern California town called "Sunnyvale". Is there any correlation? Every time I drive by Sunnyvale....I think of Buffy of course! Does anyone have the info?

 

[BillyidolwannaB]

If i remember right i think there is a town called Sunnydale somewhere in America, not sure where though. I heard Sunnydale from Buffy is loosely based on Santa Barbara.
And(not that its relevant) Giles said Sunnydale means Valley of the Sun. 🙂

 

[InsaneMystic]

Sorry, can't help it... 😛

And(not that its relevant) Giles said Sunnydale means Valley of the Sun. 🙂

Batman!!!! "Diamante" is "diamond" in Spanish!!!

 

[Washburne]

Here's a tip for you. Just search and see what you find. Google Maps 😉

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

I checked that on a map ages ago, and maybe it was a crappy map (as far as I recall this was pre Google Earth), but I also just found Sunnyvale, not Sunnydale. For years I thought it was based on that town, but then i figured out taht Sunnyvale is not at the ocean, so it can't really be Sunnydale.

And I just wikipedia-ed Santa barbara, which does look an awful lot like Sunnydale,
Check this out:

And while I was on wiki, I also looked up Sunnydale, and besides the Buffy setting, the most important one i came up with was Sunnydale, a district of Visitacion Valley, San Francisco, California.

 

[MinwaraYana]

Long time ago, I google 'Sunnydale'. It's somehow a place in Australia. But I don't know the details.

And Kristine, that looks SO Sunnydale. I feel good to see the sunshine above the roofs. 😀

 

[ILLYRIAN]

Summerlilly, have a chat to Joyce Summers of Drogyn. I seem to remember her saying she used to live near Buffy's house or the school.
I'm not sure about this but the name Torrens springs to mind about the school.

 

[Crashing Doors]

I don't remember exactly where, but I think Joss said in an interview that there isn't an actual Sunnydale California. Rather he wanted to "invent" a town as he was inventing the show mythology--it's sort of a mythological town when you think of it, with the Hellmouth and all. Plus he was playing off the stereotype of vampires and darkness; hence, Sunnydale.

 

[Summerlilly]

I'm suprised the origin of Sunnydale seems to be so mysterious. Anywho, I can just pretend like my little Sunnyvale is really what Sunnydale is based on. Much cooler that way!: popcorn:

 

[InsaneMystic]

Also, I kinda doubt that "real" Sunnydalers (Sunnydalians? lol) would have liked what Joss "did to their town" in Chosen, right? 😀

 

[dragx]

Totally bumping a dead thread here, but I just wanted to share that there's a neighborhood called Sunnydale here in Minnesota (actually, not sure if the neighborhood itself is called Sunnydale, there's a street sign with the name on it.. but everyone refers to it as 'Sunnydale').

Used to pass it everyday when I took the bus to school. Always made me smile :]

 

[Buffyverse Fan]

Yeah, I posted a while ago how funny it was that "Sunnyvale" is ranked as the happiest city in America, lol.

I think I might be able to help a little. The High School isn't really pertinent to the locale since Joss just used the same High School most TV shows use, including 90210.

In terms of the name, Joss put a comic out years ago explaining the in-story origin. The Mayor had first decided to begin his "ascension" plan back when the West was untamed. He was looking to make a demon hotbed above the Hellmouth, and wanted to attract humans there as well, for demon fodder. The Mayor was debating between Happydale and Sunnytown (I believe), and decided on Sunnydale 🙂

I'd guess that when Joss was making it originally, he had similar thoughts in mind. Joss also said that the basic premise was that the setting was molded on the cliche Horror Movie premise of a sleepy suburban town with dark secrets.

 

[white avenger]

In one of the "Tales Of The Slayers" books. the future Mayor Wilkins started a city on top of the hellmouth and he was the one who named it. If you recall, he referred to himself on several occasions as the "founder and first mayor" of Sunnydale. Why Joss actually decided on the name of "Sunnydale" for the town has, to the best of my knowledge, never been revealed.

 

[Hawkbrother]

Sunnydale is a name totally suitable for the image of a sunny, pleasant Southern California town or community(like Sweet Valley to give another example.)
Perhaps Whedon chose this name and setting to contrast with all the dark evil and horrors that lurked beneath the surface.
An imaginary town with dark secrets and terrors is of course commonplace in horror fictionand film. Perhaps the best example is Arkham, Massachusetts created by H. P. Lovecraft, where many of his Cthulhu Mythos stories were set. Unlike Sunnydale though an old, decaying colonial era town.